Category Archives: Music Software

If you own a Roland Digital Piano with Bluetooth, you’ll be happy to know that you’ve just gotten a FREE upgrade – courtesy of Roland! All you have to do is update your piano’s firmware and download the update for Piano Partner 2! It’s easy and it gives you a TON of great new features!

Haven’t tried Roland’s famous Piano Partner 2 APP yet? Well, now is definitely the time to download it and give it a shot! It’s FREE and packed FULL of features that will make playing your Roland piano faster, more educational and more fun!

Here’s what’s new with Piano Partner 2 (Version 2):

New Remote Controller – allows you to choose sounds, set split points, change balances, transpose, and more from a simple, graphical interface.

New Recorder – allows you to record yourself (or your students) and play that recording back WIRELESSLY! No extra equipment required!

New Practice Diary – allows you to keep track of how long you played, how many keys you pushed – and more! It’s never been easier to regulate your “at home” piano time!

Updated Rhythms – allows you to practice with an orchestrated accompaniment OR a plain drum rhythm with just the touch of a button!

Updated Songs – adds “Next” and “Previous” song buttons for easy access to your onboard library. You can even use shuffle or continuous play with an Apple Watch!

Roland Piano Partner 2 (Version 2) is a FREE app for Bluetooth pianos and it’s available now. Here’s how you can upgrade and start enjoying all the new features:

In 2009, Apple informed that World that – no matter what we want to do – “There’s an app for that.” …and never has that slogan rang more true than today. It would seem that nearly every business has its own app. Almost every product has it’s own accompanying software. Kids can even scan their Happy Meal toys and incorporate them into custom-made software. There’s an app for everything!

Especially since Bluetooth technology has simplified and stabilized the connections between devices, the trick now is to find the BEST app for your particular… APPlication.

Summer Time. It’s a great time to relax, take vacations, and try new some new things. Not a week goes by where we don’t hear about someone who wishes they had taken piano lessons or had never stopped taking piano lessons. It’s never too late to learn, and that’s the truth!

While starting piano lessons and purchasing a piano *gulp* may seem daunting and too expensive, partnering with Roland US, we have made it even easier to get started learning the piano, or upgrading to a better instrument!

*All Roland digital pianos have 88-keys (the same amount of keys found on your standard acoustic piano)

*All Roland digital pianos have progressive hammer action weighted keys (what?! – this means that the action of the keys feels like an acoustic piano – you play harder, sounds louder – you play lightly, sounds softer – the keys progressively feel heavier to lighter (like on an acoustic piano)

* All Roland digital pianos have (at least) a sustain pedal. You will need this – trust me.

* All Roland digital pianos do not need to be tuned (see, already saving you money!)

* All Roland digital pianos have SuperNATURAL piano sound (again, what?! Are there ghosts in the piano? No. “While traditional digital designs focus on creating a simple snapshot of an acoustic piano’s sound, SuperNATURAL Piano gives pianists a complete playing experience, with the touch, feel, and tonal behavior of a real acoustic grand.” Look here for more info.

*Roland has FREE piano apps available to help with learning and some other great learning tools. Check out our Pinterest page for a list of some that are available.

*Some Roland digital pianos even have Bluetooth capabilities! This makes it even easier to connect your piano to your tablet and access some pretty awesome piano apps (we even give you some free music that you can download with select pianos).

*All Roland digital pianos come with great warranties – from 5-10 years, depending on the model. Don’t worry, this instrument will last!

Roland’s FREE “Piano Partner” app is available now for iOS and Android devices. Click photo for details.

Last weekend, Roland introduced the highly-anticipated sequel to their wildly popular “Piano Partner” app: Piano Partner 2… and we couldn’t love it more.

Unlike the original Piano Partner, Piano Partner 2 is available for BOTH iOS devices (like the iPad) and Android devices. Also, unlike the previous app, Piano Partner 2 connects to the piano wirelessly via Bluetooth (instead of the quirky and less reliable WIFI technology featured in the previous app). These two upgrades alone would be praise-worthy, but the biggest news is what the new app does! Like Piano Partner, Piano Partner 2 allows compatible Roland Digital Piano Owners to change the sounds on their piano or play on-board songs with a simple touch of the tablet screen. Users can adjust the playback speed, mute one or both hands, and play along with metronome or customized accompaniment. Also like the previous app, Piano Partner 2 includes a powerful flashcards game that challenges the player with either note recognition or ear training skills at a variety of experience levels. NEW to Piano Partner 2, however, is the Rhythms feature. With Rhythms, Piano Partner 2 users can build their piano skills with intelligent accompaniments that follow the chords you play.

There’s an app for that!?! Learning how to play any instrument, especially piano, has changed a lot in recent years. Gone are the days where the only way to learn your notes was to use your rubber-banded flash cards, and learning to count with the monotonous click-click of your metronome was the only way to master new rhythms! Yup, there are apps for that – actually TONS of apps!

Let’s face it, kids these days (and some of us adults) love using our electronics. An iPad or tablet is often a requirement for kids to use in school. Therefore, it is not a huge leap to find that you can do so much musical learning in a fun and innovative way on your own wireless device. And another popular way to get information? You got it, social media! We have started a most excellent board on our Pinterest page for you to easily find some of the greatest apps to use with your piano, especially Roland pianos. You’ll find a few listed below, but keep checking out our Roland Piano Apps board as we add new apps all the time!

Rhythm Cat – Perfect for iOS and Android device, this app helps beginning piano students learn from day one! Students learn to count and develop their listening skills without even realizing they are actually doing the work!

Piano Maestro – A personal favorite, Piano Maestro is a great resource for any piano student. From learning “classical” pieces, to One Direction, students have the opportunity to improve their rhythm skills and piano technique while learning and performing songs with fun musical accompaniments. It’s like playing with a band! Better yet, it’s free and can be used with any digital AND acoustic piano.

Sheet Music Reader – You can be one of the “cool kids” and ditch the pile of books that you carry around with missing covers and torn pages. Now you can carry your music in your trusty iOS device with this great app. Scan your music and save to Sheet Music Reader, or purchase new music. You have a lot of options! You can even mark up the music as much as you want. Need to write in that pesky F# accidental? No problem. But what about turning pages? With your Roland HP-600 series piano (or later), connect your iPad via Bluetooth (yes, you read that correctly….Bluetooth!) to the piano and turn the pages with the push of a pedal. If you’re an Android user, check out the similar MobileSheets Pro app.

But wait, there’s more! Go visit our Pinterest page to find more great apps to use on your piano learning adventure (Yes, there is even a app for the very popular Piano Adventures series that is perfect for using with your Roland piano). Follow the Roland Piano Apps board to make sure you don’t miss out!

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Everywhere we go, we find that people love to talk about pianos. Do you have a question? Do you have a favorite piece or a piano memory you'd like to share? This is your forum. Send your questions to info@gistpianocenter.com and we'll answer them here. We'll also share our favorite piano stories from all across The MidWest. Stay tuned! There's more to come.